Stitches and Threads
Twilight Sparkle had many dolls and plushies, some given by distant family members who knew only that a young filly relation was another year older. Others were given by closer family to entertain and keep the growing girl company. From an assortment of unicorns with large googly eyes, happy smiles and horns that were prime targets for chewing, to more personal dolls that had been handed down, mother to daughter for generations, Twilight had them all.
Shelves were filled with the silent protectors and companions of the tiny pony as she listened to her parents read her bedtime stories, the night’s plushie of choice occasionally lifted down by a bemused parent as Twilight insisted that ‘Miss Chewyhorn’ join her for the night, or that ‘Mr Brown’, the blue pegasus doll in Wonderbolt colours, be her pillow guard.
Her brother would end up giving her enough guard ponies so that she would never have to worry about any would be pillow thief, dozens of velvet spears ready to protect their owner and her other bedroom companions from the battlements of shelving that lined the room, ready in ambush between photos and books. Shining Armor earned a special place in Twilight’s heart the evening she found him giving her dolls a rousing speech after she’d had nightmares the night before.
"Shining? Shining, are you in here? You-" Twilight looked around her brother's room, looking for the colt in question. "-You promised to read for me..."
An ear perked as she heard his voice from her room? Trotting quickly down the hall to her bedroom, the small filly peeked in to see all her guard ponies in formation on the floor. The Wonderbolt team looked over the troops from atop a pillow while every other pony doll she had stood in attendance on the bed.
Standing over them all like she imagined Celestia might stand over her own ponies was Shining Armor with a foam sword at the ready.
"-so I expect you all to be on your guard tonight! No monster or, uh, nightmare is getting past you again or I'll have to tell mother you've been letting her down. You better protect Twilight 'cause she's the most important pony ever, okay?. Now back to your posts!"
- - - - -
There was one doll that Twilight favoured most, a gift from her grandmother that sat in pride of place at the end of her bed, the only place a doll of its size would fit. The large unicorn doll coated in the softest plush, blessed with a silvery mane and a shimmering platinum coat.
Twilight’s grandmother, Evening Star, had promised the young foal that the large golden eyes were perfectly capable of seeing in the dark, and that ‘Princess Fuzzy's' horn could see off any monsters that hid under Twilight’s bed.
Princess Luna, upon her return and resumption of her dream walking, would learn that peeking in on Twilight’s dreams came with the sensation that something was peeking back.
With the immutable belief of the young and innocent, Twilight never questioned her grandmother and made sure that her personal princess was present in anything she was doing so the large cotton stuffed protector could carry out her duty, regardless of grass stains or the occasional rain shower. She wouldn’t understand the poorly hidden smiles on her parent’s faces or the constant picture taking until years later.
Princess Fuzzy had been there when Twilight was learning to read, glass eyes keeping watch long after the filly had lost the battle to keep delving into the story books with her brother and playing the part of impromptu pillow for the sleeping children as their parents chuckled at the scene.
“Night, dear, come look at this.”
“I’m coming, I'm coming.''
"Aren't they just precious?"
Night Light softly stepped up alongside his wife, peering past her at the trio on Twilight’s bed. The tiny filly curled up against her oversized plushie, her brother Shining Armor sleeping beside her.
Velvet and Night Light thought it cute that a stuffed forelimb was resting protectively over brother and sister but by the time they had returned with a camera, the thought was gone in favour of future blackmail.
- - - - -
Princess Fuzzy had been there when Twilight was first learning to use her magic, through the headaches and the growing pains, the highs and lows, quiet company to a girl that struggled to understand the other ponies at kindergarten but never missed the silent half of their conversations.
"Now I need to focus....focus Twilight! You can-owowOW!" A telekinetic push became a solid shove and the small filly saw her doll's eyes seem wider for a moment as the plushie was catapulted off the bed.
"I'm Sorry!"
I forgive you.
Princess Fuzzy would find the floor more than a few times as Twilight struggled to control her magic, glass eyes always forgiving the apologetic pony.
The inclusion of Cadance as foal sitter had helped to ease the parent’s concerns as the pink alicorn drew Twilight from her shell as Shining grew busier, being the kind and supportive voice that she needed when immobile plush limbs could help no more.
Cadance privately noted the way the unicorn doll’s head would always be tilted so its large eyes could watch over her charge. Once, just to satisfy the niggling curiosity, she snuck into the filly’s room and stared at the doll that was now closer to Twilight in size. A long drawn out battle of wills had taken place between the two princess' and all she’d gotten from it was a feeling of foolishness for having a staring competition with a doll, one that she wasn't sure she'd won and chalked it up as coincidence.
- - - - -
“Cadance! My new book came! Can you read it to me tonight? Shining was going to but he’s stuck in that junior guard thing and couldn’t make it and I didn’t want to read it alone a-and...Fuzzy said her throat is sore.” The young pony’s voice was weaker as she trailed off and Cadance couldn’t help but sweep the filly into a hug.
“Of course, dear. Why don’t we make a cup of cocoa first and we can get started on it.”
Twilight whooped at the idea, but rather than leave her new book on the shelf, she dragged it over to her favourite doll, resting the book under its hooves. “Princess Fuzzy will make sure it’s safe,” she said with certainty, giving her doll a firm nod, and the foal sitter couldn’t help the giggles bubbling up at the sight.
- - - - -
“Grandmother! You made it!” Twilight’s voice was bright and she was quick to drag her plushie princess over to her grandmother, her happy babbling about her favourite doll and everything they had been up to and been doing together bringing a warm smile to the aged mare. "-then she told me I need to go slow and let myself grow."
Evening Star inspected her last and best creation. The tears and scuffs that years of play produced had been painstakingly repaired, some by her daughter, though the newest ones looked to be done by tiny hooves. The irregular and crooked stitching was done with care though. The glass eyes gleamed, though, as she hummed in thought.
Looking at the princess in her grip, Evening Star nodded thoughtfully while Twilight waited with baited breath to hear the results. “You’ve taken good care of her, my little Sparkle. I think she is very happy here with you.”
Handing back the doll, she let the bright and cheery mood of her granddaughter distract her from the feeling of gratitude in the doll’s eyes.
- - - - -
Princess Fuzzy was there when the news came of her maker. Platinum plush soaking away tears on the day Twilight was told that Evening Star had fallen asleep and had never woken up. Night Light and Velvet hadn’t missed the way the pony and doll seemed to lean on each other but were used to the oddness of Evening Star’s creation by now, never finding it worth worrying to look into something that they felt was harmless tricks of the light or just a stressed mind seeing things.
Twilight and her doll mourned their loss in silence, until her brother walked in, still sweaty from junior guard training, and pulled them both close. “Twilly, I-I just heard."
"It's not fair! She w-was here last week a-and she was fine!" Twilight buried her face in his chest.
"I’m here for you, Sis."
He didn’t say more, because he didn’t need to, even as it was his turn to be soaked in tears.
- - - - -
As the time for Twilight Sparkle’s proper schooling arrived, her parents surprising their daughter with an enrolment to Celestia’s own college, it had resulted in two things.
The first being another in a series of late nights as Twilight threw herself into studying everything she could to prepare for the entrance exam, occasionally working herself into panic attacks that Cadance was quick to help her deal with.
The second had been a long, drawn out argument that Princess Fuzzy couldn’t go with the young girl to her entrance exam.
One that ended with Night Light and Twilight Velvet huffing in amusement and resignation when their son had wordlessly grabbed the doll and walked out the front door.
“If Twilight needs her family there for her, then her family will be there.” His words drew out a blinding smile from his sister who nudged him, unease over the entry exam fading for the moment. “Besides, Cadance wanted to meet up later so...good timing?”
“Thank you, Shiny! I’m just so nervous, I studied and studied and I can’t think of what I might have missed and what if I missed-”
His hoof gently pressed to her lips. “You’ve got this, sis.”
- - - - -
Sure enough, his prediction had been accurate as Twilight passed the written section with only one panic attack from curve ball questions and her family was allowed to watch her attempt the practical portion.
Twilight had heard rumours of this part of the test, a task that changed from year to year but none of her research or questions had given away what the test was to be for this year. It irked her more because it was then something she couldn’t study up on and was building up to another anxiety overload until her brother ruffled her mane.
“Remember Cadance’s breathing exercise?”
“Y-yeah. I just-” Twilight tried to focus on the anxiety control exercise the pink alicorn had taught her when the voice of one of the professors' broke the moment as a cart was wheeled in.
“Your final task, Miss Twilight, is to hatch this egg.”
Fate played its hand...
- - - - -
Twilight stared at the large egg, lost for a moment as she reviewed everything she knew about dragons and their eggs and came up with very little. All the books had told her was that dragons possessed high levels of innate magic and nested around lava flows.
‘So, warmth and magic…but how hot? How much magic? Is it a constant or-’
Indecision trapped her and Twilight felt the cold, familiar fingers of panic grip her chest as the review board waited with a detached air. Glancing over, her eyes met the supporting sight of her family, even Princess Fuzzy’s passive expression seeming to cheer her on.
‘I.. I won’t let them down! Focus Twilight!’ Her horn sparked with magic build up as she started to cast a spell, then changed her mind to another, then another in a stuttering cycle as her family were watching with growing worry.
“Twiligh-” Shining Armor tried to support his sister but a flash of light from the window caught his attention as everything went to chaos.
Just as Twilight’s horn sparked, building for another spell, a nova of colour washed over the city, the windows of the school room blowing in as the air became choked with raw, unbound magic.
Had she been a graduate of the school, the struggling unicorn would have known the suddenly dangerous position she was in. As it was, Twilight’s horn became a magnet for all the magic in the air and the resulting surge of power flooded the heating charm she had been casting, mutating it and blasting the dragon egg with what was more a magical demand than a mere spell.
'This egg must hatch.' Magic commanded.
'The egg is not real, it is plaster and paint.' Reality replied.
'The egg must hatch. It must be real.' Rebuke.
'There is no dragon hatchling inside. The egg was not real.' Protest.
'This egg must be real to hatch, thus there must be a hatchling inside. Thus is was always a real egg.' Ultimatum.
A demand that resulted in a stone and plaster imitation egg cracking open, revealing a tiny hatchling that promptly swelled under the beam of magic, the unnaturally grown infant’s head crashing through the roof of the school.
The demand to hatch answered the spell lost its focus and Twilight found herself trapped in the grip of something else, her horn burning as wild magic lashed out, sweeping across the room. Her parents were caught trying to take cover behind a suddenly tiny desk and discovering life as pot plants while Cadance deflected the beam that surged for her with a shield of her own, leaving the blue disc cracked and creaking like glass.
“Twilight!” Shining Armor’s desperate call didn’t stop the glowing form in the middle of the room from blasting away with another spray of uncontrolled magic that would have struck had Cadence not yanked him to safety, dragging the struggling unicorn towards the door with her own magic and running past the professors who were turning green whilst sprouting leaves at an alarming rate.
‘S-stop! I can’t- I.. Help! Shining, help me, it hurts!’ The small pony writhed in the grip of the uncontrolled outburst, glowing with an eye watering intensity until another source of magic arrived to contain and resolve the situation. As Princess Celestia brought her focus to bear on Twilight, the surging magic lashed out one more time, draining the last of the unfettered spell, before it guttered out under the Princess’ attention, leaving a small, limp form behind.
Propped up in a seat where it could watch the proceedings, untouched until that moment, the doll, Princess Fuzzy, blinked her eyes and took a breath.